Chapter Links

Click the links below to navigate to textbook chapters.

Preliminaries

1 | Contents [this page]

2 | Preface

3 | How to Listen to Music

4 | About the Author

5 | Study Questions

6 | Glossary of Musical Terms

Musical Elements

1 | Mysteries of Musical Sounds

2 | Ancient and Modern Voices

3 | Strings from Paleolithic Times to Now

4 | Keyboard and Electronic Instruments

5 | Winds from Prehistory to Modern

6 | Ancient and Modern Percussion

7 | Beat, Meter and Rhythm

8 | Ancient and Non-Western Music Notation

9 | Western Music Notation

10 | What is Melody?

11 | What is Harmony?

12 | Texture and Form in Music

Post-Classical World

1 | Social and Cultural Influences

2 | Roman Catholic Church

3 | Gregorian Chant

4 | Gagaku: Japanese Imperial Court Music

5 | French Secular Music: Troubadours

6 | The Ars Nova in 14th Century France

Age of Discovery

1 | Social and Cultural Influences

2 | Renaissance Style

3 | Sacred Vocal Polyphony

4 | English Secular Vocal Music

5 | English Lute and Ensemble Music

6 | Chinese Lute: Pipa (琵琶) and Beyond

7 | Middle Eastern (Arabic) Oud (عود)

Baroque Era

1 | Social and Cultural Influences

2 | Baroque Style

3 | Antonio Vivaldi

4 | Johann Sebastian Bach

5 | George Frideric Handel

6 | Classical Hindustani Music of India

Age of Enlightenment

1 | Social and Cultural Influences

2 | Classical Style

3 | Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

4 | The Concerto

5 | Joseph Haydn

6 | Ludwig Van Beethoven

7 | West Africa: The Kora

8 | Korea: The Gayageum (가야금)

Nineteenth Century

1 | Social and Cultural Influences

2 | Romantic Style

3 | Art Song and Schubert

4 | Piano Solo: Franz Liszt & Fréderic Chopin

5 | American Ragtime

6 | Indonesian Gamelan

7 | Spanish Flamenco and Nationalism

8 | Idealists and Absolute Music

Twentieth Century

1 | Social and Cultural Influences

2 | French Impressionism

3 | United States: Dawn of Blues and Jazz

4 | United States: Charles Ives

5 | United States: George Gershwin

6 | Hawaii: Slack-Key Guitar

7 | Hawaii: Birth of the Ukulele

8 | Latin America: Manuel Maria Ponce